First private company closer to joining Innovation Square

The Infusion Technology Center is one step closer to starting construction at Innovation Square at the former Shands AGH site.

By Andrea RumbaughCorrespondent

The Infusion Technology Center is one step closer to starting construction at Innovation Square at the former Shands AGH site.

Front Street Commercial Real Estate Group of Gainesville was recently appointed as the property’s exclusive broker. Managing Director Nick Banks said they are looking to fill the space with biomedical and high-tech companies. The center also will need businesses such as law firms to provide in-house services, and retail outlets and restaurants to lease the ground floor.

Banks said he hopes to start signing contracts in the next 30 to 45 days, and construction is planned to start late this year.

“It’s very exciting,” he said. “There’s so much momentum behind this project.”

The 150,000-square-foot building is the first private development in Innovation Square. It will be next to the Florida Innovation Hub at UF, an incubator for technology-based start-ups. It is hoped that workers at the two buildings will collaborate.

“We envision that it is likely when they (the start-ups) do graduate that many will go right next door to the Infusion Technology Center,” said Jane Muir, director of the Innovation Hub.

Trimark Properties, developer of the Infusion Technology Center, also plans to build the UF INSPIREation Hall in the square. John Fleming, managing member of Trimark, said it will be a dormitory for entrepreneur-minded students attending UF. It will be open to students of all majors and ages and, in addition to housing, will have a 150-person space to be used for classes, dinners and events.

Construction is planned to start in early 2013.

Fleming said it was a well-planned strategy that Trimark Properties would one day develop with UF. In Innovation Square, it hopes to help create an environment where people can work, play and live.

“Our hopes are to support the University of Florida’s efforts in creating a really urban, unique research park,” he said.

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